


Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright

by AceQueenKing



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: M/M, Ruthless (Mass Effect)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-27
Updated: 2014-10-27
Packaged: 2018-02-22 22:18:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2523734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceQueenKing/pseuds/AceQueenKing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sovereign gives Saren a command he has difficulty carrying out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright

Kahje is a disaster.

He storms back to his ship, ignoring the idiots who gawk at him. He wipes some of the slippery coppery blood - the last remains of his mark – off his face, and shoves a hanar in front of him to move.

“This one will call one’s authorities,” it says, feebly. _Weak_.

It isn’t a threat, but he pulls out his pistol. _Kill him._ The voice inside him whispers. _He will have no place in our new galaxy._

Two shots later, another weakling is dead, and there is yet more copper blood in his eyes.

He slams open the door to his ship – not Sovereign, not on council business – and pads to the shower, not caring about the excessive blood trail.

He stops short in the kitchen. There is new item: a pot, boiling. His mandibles twitch in recognition of the spiced, distinctive scent – _laedit –_ and he turns.

Nihlus is behind him. He lifts a hand to his teacher’s mandible and his eyes shine with a concern Saren hates.

“Nihlus,” he spits. “What brings you to the ass-end of the galaxy?”  
  
“Mainly you,” Nihlus says, his sub-vocals pulsing with affection. “Went well, I take it?”  
  
“They’re dead.” His eyes narrow. “But you could have waited for that news. So…why are you here?”  
  
“Officially, I’m here to pick up some data. Human ambassador has been making a lot of noise about not having any of their kind in the Spectres.” He shrugs. “They didn’t trust a digital data transfer and wanted to give me their vids in person, on a neutral world to boot. But, like I said…” His eyes – as consuming as Desolas’ were – shine like Manae at moon-rise. “Mainly you.”

Nihlus tilts forward, emitting a soft purr as his forehead clicks against his own. Unbidden, his own hand pulls tight against his former pupil, groping the boy’s waist.  
  
“You should throw them in the trash," he says, as Nihlus hand connects with his own waist. “Humans aren’t worth the effort.”  
  
“You’re probably right.” Nihlus brushes his mandible against his blood-stained cheek. “Still, let’s get you a shower and then we can get it out of the way.”

He shoves the boy away and stomps off to the showers. He hears Nihlus click off the _laedit_ and follow him, laughing softly.

\- - -

A shared shower later, he has the boy on his bed, spectre recruits and _laedit_ forgotten as he slips inside his only apprentice.

Nihlus eyes shine with dangerous warmth as they move together.  
  
Saren thrusts harder, and the boy’s eyes slam shut.

He’s relieved. Nihlus is getting too close. There’s an emotion in those eyes that he hasn’t seen since…since Desolas.

 _Kill him_. The voice says. Hundreds of thousands of miles between them, Sovereign booms, and Saren trembles, knowing this is _true_ power.

But for once, he will not submit.

 _No._ _He’s valuable to our cause._ He thinks, furiously fucking his apprentice.

Nihlus claws at his plates, helpless. “Saren…”  
  
_Weak. Ripe for slaughter._

 _No._ He closes his eyes, loses himself in the moment. _No, no, no. Not this one._

“Nihlus…” He lets himself say, just a whisper. The boy's cock twitches against his belly, and he feels something inside of him burn bright for a moment before he reaches his own release.

He stares at the boy under him. Nihlus’ mandibles quiver, but even spotting that, he’s utterly unprepared for what comes next.

Nihlus pull him down on top of him, their foreheads fitting together in perfect symmetry.

Nihlus’ green eyes smolder with a sacred light, and Saren’s resolve shatters.

 _Kill him._ The unwelcome intruder in his mind whispers. _Slit his throat while he suspects nothing. It would be so easy._ _Look how he lays himself out for you._

 _No._ Nihlus caresses his fringe, and he swallows the pleased purr that wants to reverberate through his chest. His hand moves, unconsciously, to the boys throat – the skin dark, soft.

He withdraws, quaking with the effort to do so.

Nihlus eyes flash with pain, but he doesn’t apologize. After a moment, Nihlus pads to the kitchen, and returns with two warm glasses of _laedit_. Wordlessly, he holds one up to him, and Saren takes it, slowly sips it as Nihlus returns to his bed.

Nihlus pulls out the datapad and puts on the first video.

Saren moves his head onto the boy’s shoulder, a not-quite apology. A dark hand winds around his cowl, and he understands: _all is forgiven._

The first video is a woman - a biotic - on a barren moon. “Torfan.” Nihlus murmurs. “Shepard.”  
  
There’s nothing particularly outstanding in the woman's build – she’s tall, athletic, wiry in the way all human biotics are – but her techniques are brutal.

A batarian gets too close to her – closing in from the back. She sees, and, with a roar, she unleashes a shockwave that utterly decimates the man, cleaving him into gore.

“Good technique,” Nihlus notes, a soft purr of approval in his sub-vocals.

“Technique isn’t the only thing you’re supported to evaluate,” He murmurs.

“Vids only been on thirty seconds.”  
  
“Thirty seconds too long.”

“Don’t be jealous.” Nihlus nips his teeth on Saren’s shoulder. “Have the rest of the night for you.”

“Lieutenant!” Despite the grainy footage, the sound booms clear. “They’re too many of them! Coming through the tunnels! We can’t!”  
  
“You can and you will!” This woman is all fire. “You and the rest of your crew! I don’t care how many people fall, we’re getting these sons of bitches!”

There is something in the woman’s bright green eyes, eerily like Nihlus’ – blinding and intense.

He doesn’t like it.  
  
“But ma’am!”

“Think of Mindoir! You going to let those four-eyed sons of bitches take us down like this?”  
  
“She’s got spirit, this one,” Nihlus says. “Potential.”

There’s a light in Nihlus’ eyes, and Saren thinks _no, no, no._ There is something there, a primordial spark that he fears.  
  
The woman aims her gun toward the camera, and her green eyes never waver as it shatters.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a fic meme prompt on Tumblr.
> 
> Prompt word was Ultracrepidarian - Of one who speaks or offers opinions on matters beyond their knowledge
> 
> The title is from William Blakes’ poem _The Tiger_.
> 
> The drink Saren and Nihlus drink - laedit – is the latin phrase "he offends//he betrays”. Saren is drinking a big ole' cuppa betrayal sauce cuz that's the way he likes it. 
> 
> Desolas, for those who haven’t read the comics, was Saren’s brother.


End file.
